Have you experienced a knee injury?

[postbio]

So many experienced EUC riders here, so I thought I could learn from those who have experienced a knee injury. 
If you've experienced a knee injury:

• How serious was the knee injury?
• How did it occur?
• What long did it take you to recover?
• Does it affect your EUC riding now? 
• What would you like others to know from your experience?

Thanks in advance!

Edited July 30, 2020 by postbio

[Circuitmage]

In my first year of riding, I fell several times. And very infrequently fall now. I always wear some kind of knee pad, but 2 or 3 of them were painful and took weeks/months to heal. I can say for 100% certainty that every fall was due to my actions (how I was riding, where I was going, not paying attention, what I was doing, etc.).

The worst one was when my pedal clipped someone's sidewalk brickwork they had at the front of their yard. It was at night, and I was riding in an unknown area (2 strikes against me). I was going slow, and when I fell the rivets in the knee pads actully tore two dime sized holes into my knees.  I did not go to the doctor or get stiches, but that took 3 or 4 months to heal. Lesson learned: Do not use cheap knee pads.

I also fell several times in dirt, where my hands helped absorb the impact. I've fallen on pavement where I also scraped my hands absorbing the impact, a couple weeks to heal the hands. Lesson learned: Wear wrist protection with palm guards.

I fell trying to walk my dog when she pulled me at a 90 degree angle off my EUC directly onto my knees on a paved road. That took a few weeks to heal. Lesson Learned: Do not walk big dogs.

I've fallen a couple times near my train when getting on or off. I was going very slow, navigating around metal poles and clipped my pedals. No big deal...but if you are concerned about people seeing you fall then that's the worst of it. Lesson learned: Even when going slow, watch out.

I had one good fall on some dirt, after I crossed a highway and there was a grass covered hole in the dirt. I was wearing safety gear and due to my knees being slightly bent I flew straigh forward and slid on my knees, got back up not problem. The next day and for a a few days I had back pain, but no big deal. It was a good slide! 

Does it affect my EUC riding? NO! Those small falls help me learn to stay on. 

I think safety is a very relative thing to consider. For example, some people do not feel comfortable looking behind them at all, whereas I am perfectly fine with it. I do not wear full face helmets, but many people do. It has a lot to do with how much risk you are taking (speed/paths), but also how experienced and safety conscious you are. I go WAY out of my way to ride safe. I have years of motorcycle and other electric vehicle experience that appears to be helping my safety record. But I have still had several incidents on my first fast EUC (KS 16S).

Overall:

* Wear knee and wrist guards

* Don't walk big dogs.

* Don't get cheap gear.

* Don't get complacent about your speed, the path you're on, other people/vehicles, your ride...anything. 

[Ghukek]

4 hours ago, Circuitmage said:

Lesson learned: Do not use cheap knee pads.

I too was burned by cheap knee pads. I was wearing a cheap pair that did not secure above the knee. Stupid me. Cut out at 25mph due to a combination of factors that were all my fault. (Leaned into it too hard on an incline while hitting a small bump on a cold day.) Knee pad took the initial impact but then folded over or slid down and I got nasty road rash and ripped a pair of jeans that were only half-way through their lifespan. Also wasn't wearing elbow pads, only a padded jacket so one of my elbows also got scraped. Still healing two weeks and two days later. 

I do not regret wearing safety gear. That wreck could have been much worse. However, I did immediately upgrade my knee and elbow protection.

My riding was affected not by the injury itself but from what I learned from the cause of the wreck. I'm now less aggressive on the acceleration and I adjusted my gear.

The main takeaway I want others to have from my own experience is that gear is always a good choice. Don't get complacent and don't think too highly of yourself. The Dunning Kruger effect tells us that most people drastically overestimate their skill in a given discipline. 

[postbio]

Thanks @Circuitmage and @Ghukek!

I've just upgraded to from the Triple 8 KP 22 knee pads ($50) to the Leatt C Frames ($520), which is like an upgraded version of the Leatt Dual Axis Knee/Shin guards. I fear permanently damaging my knees since I run a lot. Riding at 25+ mph, and even more with future wheels like the Veteran Sherman or Gotway Monster Pro,  it's only a matter of time when the big crash happens, not "if" it'll happen. Smaller crashes are more probable still.

The Leatt C Frames offer great protection, but seems they're lacking bulk on the front of the knee, which is where you'd slide like when you see a skateboarder dismount on a half pipe on their knee pads. However, it seems that for the crashes over 20 mph, you won't be doing the skateboarding type of slide on your knees since you won't have time to react nor be able to keep upright even if you intentionally land on one or both knees.

Rather, it's more like violent tumbling and rolling, maybe starting with a sharp impact on your knee first before your forward momentum carries you into hitting your upper body.  It seems the best strategy is going limp ragdoll and hope for the best. The whole martial arts or parkour rolling, or even skateboard rolling, is not possible since you have no time to react and setup for the roll. I'm trying to strategize for a fall, but assuming what'll happen is everything is fine, then you're on the ground before you know what happened in discontinuous way. 

[Ghukek]

4 hours ago, postbio said:

It seems the best strategy is going limp ragdoll and hope for the best....  I'm trying to strategize for a fall, but assuming what'll happen is everything is fine, then you're on the ground before you know what happened in discontinuous way. 

Basically yes. I ended up falling flat on my stomach, arms outstretched and the only thing that didn't hit the ground was my face. I slid forward a bit and the three primary points of contact were my right knee, left elbow, and right palm. How those ended up being the points of contact? I don't know. It all happened too quickly.

Your first plan of attack for an accident is avoiding it. If that fails, there's not much else you can do in the moment.

Now that I have taken a spill I'm simultaneously more confident that I will get through another one and more careful so that I won't have to.

[postbio]

Thanks @Ghukek

I'm trying to confront risk of harm through purely intellectual means, since I don't emotionally feel the fear.

 

When we think of harm that can happen to us, we think that we can gauge how bad it'll be, and furthermore that we see it coming, and so have time to be ready and prep for the harm. This is the case in trading, but some people have gone broke after a single day after years of winning and feeling safe, and nowhere feeling how much risk, exposure, and danger they were in, and therefore tried to take this as representative of when harm can come.

 

I'm trying to bring this thinking to physical risk, as in a fall at 25-30 mph o faster. For 99.9% of the time, I feel completely fine, but trying hard not to operate under a false sense of security from lack of evidence.